Velocipede



(No Model.)

D. H; SMITH.

VELOGIPBDE.

Patented May 20, 1890 @muw bo v QM MM UNITED STATES P TENT OFFICE.

DANIEL II. SMITH, OF HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS.

VELOC IPEDE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 428,356, dated May20,1890.

Application filed October 9, 1889. Serial No. 326,422. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DANIEL II. SMITH, of Holyoke, in the countyofI-Iampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Velocipedes, of which the following is a specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part thereof.

My invention relates to velocipedes, and

particularly to that class of velocipedes in which the steering-wheel islocated in front, and in which the propelling-power is applied to therear wheel or wheels. It is a wellknown objection to such machines that,by reason of uneven ground, crumbly or sandy surface, or the unevenbalancing of the rider upon the seat, the steering-wheel is liable to bedeflected to the right or left of a straight line, thereby requiring therider to constantly maintain a firm hold upon the handle-bar, anddetracting greatly from the safety and enjoyment of the user of suchmachines. Springs and various other devices have been employed with aview to overcoming such tendency of the steering-wheel; but such deviceshave not only failed to secure the desired result, but have in mostinstances formed an unsightly and undesirable adjunct to the machine. Inall of them, so far as I am aware, it has been possible for thesteering-wheel to be diverted from a straight line by any of the causesmentioned when the machine is in motion, the devices employed beingdesigned to overcome this tendency as much as possible.

It is the object of my invention to provide velocipedes of the classmentioned with means for absolutely preventing the deflection of thesteering-wheel from a straight line, while the machine is in motion in aforward direction, by any other means than the handle-bar, and forimmediately returning said wheel to its normal position after beingturned to the right or left by means of the handle-bar, as soon as thehold of the rider upon the handlebar is released.

.To this end my invention consists in a velocipede in which the motivepower is applied to the rear wheel or wheels, and in which thesteering-wheel is located in front, the

steering-wheel of which is so connected to the frame of the machine thatin order to turn said wheel either to the right or left of a straightline a forward bodily movement must pede having its steering-wheelconnected to.

the frame of the machine by means of two pivotal bearings located uponopposite sides of the plane of movement of said wheel when the machineis progressing in a straight line.

The invention consists, finally, in the construction and combination ofparts hereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed out in theclaims.

Inasmuch as the objections above noted to velocipedes having theirsteering-wheel located in front and having the power applied to theirrear wheel or wheels are particularly true of the well-known safetystyle of machines, I have herein illustrated my-invention in connectionwith one of said machines, and in the drawings, in which like lettersdesignate like parts in the several figures Figure l is a side elevationof a safety velocipede constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 isa view upon a larger scale showing the steering-post in crosssection,and showing in plan view the means devised by me for connecting saidpost to the backbone of the machine. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectionthrough the backbone and a rear elevation of said connecting means.

The letter a designates the steering-wheel, b the steering-post, c thehandle-bar, d the backbone, c the rear or propelling wheel, f thesaddle, and g the pedals, of awell-known form of velocipede.

In the adaption of my invention to such machine I rigidly secure to thebackbone d, at the front end of the latter, a head-piece h, which, asshown, is rectangular in shape, but which may be of any desired shape.Pro

jecting laterally from said head-piece, at or near the top and bottomthereof, respectively, are two arms h, which arms are provided withtapped holes at their outer end to receive comically-pointed screws 7L2.

The letter 70 designates a frame, which, as shown, is composed of twoposts 76 k rigidly connected together by two cross-bars 70 the post 70'of which frame is provided with conical depressions in its ends toreceive the ends of the screws 77?, whereby said frame is adapted toswing about said screws as a center. The cross-bars k are of such lengthas to cause the posts 7c 70 to lie upon opposite sides of the centralplane of the machine, which term as herein used willbe understood tomean the plane of movement of the steering-wheel when the machine isprogressing in a straight line.

Two arms 19 project laterally from the steering-post 11, being rigidlysecured thereto bymeans of one or more bands encircling said post, or inany convenient manner, said arms being provided with tapped holes attheir outer ends to receive conically-pointed screws b which enterconical depressions in the ends of post 70 thus enabling thesteering-post to swing about said post as a center. I have shown thepointed screws Z) and h simply as one form of pivotal bearing having butslight friction and wear, and it will be understood that ball-bearingsor other common form of bearings can be employed in lieu thereof, ifdesired.

It will be observed that the steering-post is rigidly held from movementabout its own axis by the arms b and that while it is free .to swingabout the post k as a center it must in so doing have a forward movementin addition to its turning movement. It will be observed, also, thatwhile said post and the frame k are free to swing in the oppositedirection about the screws 72,2 as a center said post must again have aforward movement in addition to its turning movement. It follows,therefore, that while said compound forward and turning movement can bereadily imparted to said post and the steering-wheel by means of thehandle-bar said wheel can never be turned either to the right or leftwhen the machine is moving forwardly by any obstruction or unevenness inthe roadway or from any other cause, since any resistance to its forwardmovement only serves to increase the force with which it is held in itsstraight position. It follows, furthermore, that should said post andwheel be turned either to the right or left of a straight line by meansof the handle-bar the resistance of the ground will,if the handle-barbereleased, immediately cause said wheel to return to its rearmostposition, or one coinciding with the central plane of the machine. Theconstruction described, therefore, instead of merely ventssuch diversionso long as the machine is propelled in a forward direction by powerapplied to its rear wheel or wheels.

I prefer to curve the arms h and the crossbars k of frame 70, as shownin Fig. 2, to cause the two pivotal centers about which thesteering-wheel turns to lie upon diametrically-opposite sides of thesteering-post when the latter is in its normal position, asI therebygain a possible are of movement for said post about each of its centersof substantially ninety degrees before the axis of the steering-wheel isbrought to a position perpendicular to the axis of the rear wheel orwheels; but inasmuch as the steering-wheel is rarely turned in riding toa position of more than.

forty-five degrees from its normal position such arrangement is notmaterial.

It will be noted that while, as stated, the steering-wheel is preventedfrom moving forwardly and laterally so long as the machine is propelledforwardly by power applied to its rear wheel, unless positively so movedby the handle-bar, said wheel can move forward ly, swinging upon both ofits centers, should the machine be drawn forwardly by means of itshandle-bar or the steering-post, as is customary when the rider leadshis machine without mounting, and for the purpose of limiting suchforward movement I provide stops, which, as shown, consist of lugs orprojections m on the posts 70 and shoulders n on the arms 7L Z), solocated as to permit the steering-post to swing upon either center asfar as is necessary or desirable in the operation of the steering-wheelwhen riding, and to prevent any further pivotal movement thereof bybeing brought into contact with each other. If desired,any suitable formof latch can be employed to prevent any movement of the steering-wheelupon its centers when the machine is thus led by the handle-bar orsteering-post, which, of course, it would be necessary to release whenthe rider mounts the machine.

To obviate noise and jar of the parts when the steering-wheel isreturned to its normal position after being diverted therefrom, Iprovide the cushions or buffers p, preferably made from soft rubber andseated in sockets in the front and rear sides of the cross-bars 70 insuch position that one of the same will bear against the head-piece andthe other against the steering-post, as shown in Fig. 2. Said buffers,however, can be otherwise formed and applied to secure the same result,if desired. I also prefer to provide the machine with adjustingdevices,by which the means for connecting the steering-wheel to theframe of the machine can be adjusted to cause said wheel to registeraccurately with the central plane of the machine at all times when saidwheel is in its-normal position, and as herein shown said devicesconsist of set-screws passing through the cross-bars k and bearingagainst said buffers 19, (see broken lines in Fig. 2,) by means of whichsaid buffers can be caused to project more or less beyond the surface ofsaid bars. Any wearing away of the buffers or of the pivotal centersabout which the steering-wheel turns, or any slight bending of the framek or arms I) h, from a blow or other cause, which would tend to causethe steering-wheel to stand, in its normal position, out of truealignment with the central plane of the machine, can be compensated forby the adjustment of the buffers by means of said set-screws to true upsaid wheel. It is obvious, however, that the form of such adjustingdevices, as well as those of thevarious other details of constructionherein described, can be greatly varied within the scope of myinvention, the generic features of which have been fully set forth.

The adaptation of my invention to other styles of velocipedes than thatherein illustrated, whether provided with two or more wheels, will beobvious to persons skilled in the art from the foregoing description andneed not be more particularly described herein.

By the use of the means herein described for connecting thesteering-wheel of frontsteering and rear-driving machines to the frameof the machine both the safety and the comfort of the rider are greatlyenhanced, since he need devote no attention to the steering of themachine, except when he desires to deviate from a straight line, and acommon cause of accident-to wit, unsteady movement of thesteeringwheelis entirely obviated.

As the parts are shown in Fig. 2, if the handle-bar be turned to the-left, the steeringpost will swing upon the center and thesteering-wheel will be given a compound forward and curvilinear movementto the right, and if said handle-bar be moved to the right said postwill swing upon the center 70 and the wheel will be given a similarmovement to the left- The leverage afforded by the handle-bar enablessuch steering movements thereof to be made without any appreciableincrease of effort over that required in the steering of such machinesas heretofore constructed.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. A rear-driving and front-steeringvelocipede having its steering-wheelconnected to its frame by means of two pivotal bearings located uponopposite sides of the plane of movement of said wheel when the machineis progressing upon a straight line, substantially as described, and forthe purpose set forth.

2. A rear-driving and front-steering velocipede having its steering-postrigidly held against movement about its own axis and having said postconnected to the frame of the machine by means of two pivotalbearingslocated upon the opposite sides of the central plane of the machine,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. A velocipede having means for applying power to its rear wheel orwheels and having its steering-wheel located in front, saidsteering-wheel being connected to the frame of the machine by means of adouble hingejoint comprising two pivotal centers located upon oppositesides of the central plane of the machine, substantially as desoribed,whereby said wheel in turning from a straight line is given a forward aswell as a curvilinear movement.

4. A rear-driving and front-steering velocione end to saidpost andsimilarly-connected to the frame at its opposite end, said pivotalpoints being located upon opposite sides of the central plane of themachine, substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. A rear-driving and front-steering velocipede having one or more armsprojecting laterally from its frame at the front end of the latter andhaving oneor more arms projecting from its steering-post in a directionopposite to that in which the arm or arms on the frame extend, and anintermediate part pivotally connected .at its opposite .ends to saidarms, substantially as and for the purpose described.

6. A velocipede having its steering-post connected to its frame by meansof a swinging frame in such manner that said post swings upon said framewhen turning in one direction and swings with said frame about anindependent center when turning in the opposite direction, and havingstops to limit the swinging movement of said post in both directions,substantially as set forth.

7. A velocipede having its steering-post conneoted to its frame by meansof a swinging frame, by which said post is caused to turn upon twoindependent centers in diverting the machine to the right and left of astraight line, and adjusting devices for regulating the normal positionof said post relatively to said centers, substantially as described.

8. The velocipede herein described having rigidly secured to itsbackbone d the headpiece 71, provided with the laterally-extending arms7b, the steering-post 1), provided with the laterally-extending arm Z),and frame 76, pivotally connected at its opposite ends to said arms 72/b, respectively, substantially as and for the purpose described.

9. In a velocipede, the combination, with backbone d and steering-postZ) and arms h Z),

bone, and for adjusting the normal position of said post relatively tothe two ends of said frame, substantially as set forth.

10. In a velocipede, the combination, with backbone d, of head-piece h,secured thereto,

steering-post when the latter is in its normal position, substantiallyas set forth.

11. In a veloeipede, the combination, with the frame provided with thearms h and the steering-post provided with the arms I), of frame 70,composed of posts 70 k rigidly connected together and pivotallyconnected, respectively, to said arms h b, and stops, as the lugs m onsaid posts and shoulders n 011 said arms, to limit the pivotal movementof said parts in one direction, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

DANIEL H. SMITH.

Witnesses:

WV. N. CHAPMAN, J. E. CHAPMAN.

